Bihar caught in a wildly unpredictable showdown over corruption

Seldom has Bihar been caught in such a wildly unpredictable showdown over corruption. After a fortnight of oratory, endless news conferences and a blizzard of handouts containing charges and counter-charges, the whole political drama appears to be building into a bizarre spectacle of the Gundu Rao-A.R. Antulay variety.The two flawed protagonists - Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and former chief minister Karpoori Thakur - have been skirmishing for some time. Last fortnight their running battle heated up again. The latest episode was triggered off by a mysterious inquiry conducted by an unknown agency against Mishra and his colleagues. The report was allegedly submitted on August 10 and first publicised by state Janata Party General Secretary Sarju Roy. He claimed all the ministers of the Bihar cabinet, including the chief minister, have been found guilty of corrupt practices, favouritism, nepotism and acquiring huge wealth by foul means.Even as Mishra promptly and categorically denied everything, his opponents intensified their attack and the barrage of allegations succeeded in pushing Mishra to the wall. Finding himself cornered with no rescue from the Centre or the prime minister in sight, Mishra panicked and ill-advisedly resorted to counter-charges against Thakur in self-defence. This has turned out to be a grievous blunder which has brought a small army of skeletons tumbling out of the closets.Counter-attacks: Mishra launched his counter-attack against Thakur, the leader of the Opposition, by recalling, among a dozen other scandals, the infamous Rs 5-crore rapeseed oil deal scandal, struck between a Bombay firm and Thakur's Janata government. Shouted Mishra: "A person who sullied the political image of this state by indulging in corruption in its meanest forms has not the face to challenge my honesty and integrity. He is vainly trying to garb me in his own cloak." Mishra (left) and Thakur: Charges and countercharges Thakur, not to be outdone, righteously responded that he always believed in the "highest degree of honesty and integrity" and added that Mishra himself has been involved in numerous grave charges of corruption, nepotism and favouritism during his previous and present terms as chief minister and had "opted to defame me by imputing false, frivolous and fictitious charges." Thakur ticked off more than half a dozen "specific acts" of corruption which, according to him, were substantiated by the inquiry conducted by the Home Ministry:Mishra, without the recommendation of the Excise Department or the concurrence of the cabinet, suddenly raised the price of spirit from 75 paise to Rs 1.80 per litre;After scrapping prohibition, which itself brought huge personal profit, Mishra allotted the liquor shops to old licensees although the cabinet sub-committee had proposed to auction the vends;Under the influence of sugar mill owners, Mishra delayed the payment of an increased price (from Rs 18 to Rs 23) to the growers;In spite of the ban through an ordinance, private, technical and pharmacy colleges have continued to charge capitation fees by paying Mishra lakhs of rupees to look the other way;A private firm received a Rs 1 crore contract through the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) without following the rules governing such contracts and another firm was given a contract for supplying galvanised iron pipes against the rules;Mishra collected Rs 10 lakh through the BSEB in the name of the kisan rally and another Rs 22 lakh in the name of the AICC(I) and He reappointed or promoted a number of officials and engineers after their retirement or without clearance from the Vigilance Department.All the deals alleged by Thakur or, as he claims, substantiated by the investigating agency, add up to Rs 50 lakh - a paltry sum indeed for a chief minister of Bihar, where corruption is a way of life.Mishra's rebuttal poured contempt on Thakur and his charges. "I am amused to go through the charges levelled against me by Thakur, who, as all Bihar knows, wallows in scandals involving money and sex", he said.He added that "Thakur as chief minister cornered more than Rs 2 crore from the contracts given by the BSEB's different suppliers." As for the kisan rally fund collection charges: "This is utterly baseless. I should like to remind Thakur about his own role in collecting more than Rs 35 lakh for Charan Singh's birthday."Silent Centre: While this trading of charges continues the Centre and the home minister are keeping quiet about the probe which leads observers to believe that the Centre too may be playing a role in the drama. Mishra, like a drowning man desperately grasping at any straw, holds to Zail Singh's reply to the Rajya Sabha: "Some memoranda or complaints against the chief ministers of Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh addressed to the prime minister were received and have been or are being processed according to established procedure under the code of conduct for ministers and the circumstances of each case."According to Mishra the reply indicates that no inquiry whatsoever has been conducted and he points out that no agency ever called for any file. "Moreover," he said, "Zail Singh assured me on the phone that the report was baseless." Thakur naturally does not accept Mishra's version and states: "Dr Mishra is not competent to deny or refute. It is only the home minister or some competent authority of the Union Government who can confirm or deny. We are yet to find such authentic denial." Some of the dirty linen presently being washed in public has resisted all attempts at laundering specifically Thakur's involvement in a rapeseed oil deal and two corruption cases against Mishra - a jeep scandal and the Urban Cooperative Bank scandal - which he got thrown out of court on the grounds that both were lodged out of political vendetta. Now Thakur and Mishra have challenged each other to file cases.The greatest casuality of this uproar over past corruption on a personal level has been Bihar since people's attention has been diverted from the larger sins being committed at present. At a recent news conference, an angry senior journalist told Thakur bluntly: "The whole show appears to be part of a conspiracy between you (Thakur) and Mishra to keep the people spellbound while Bihar is being plundered." But the pot-versus-kettle slanging match goes on. Before long it is likely that most people in the state will simply conclude that there is little to choose between Tweedledum Mishra and Tweedledee Thakur.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Oct 28, 2013 11:52 IST--- ENDS ---

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Bihar caught in a wildly unpredictable showdown over corruption

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